Health of Husband may Determine Happiness, Longevity of Marriage

A happy marriage depends greatly on the positive involvement of both partners, yet recent information found by researchers from the University of Chicago suggests that a marriage may be more likely to survive if the husband, in particular, is in good health.

"Wives report more conflict if their husband is in poor health," said James Iveniuk, PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago, according to The Daily Mail. "If the wife is in poor health, there doesn't seem to be any difference in terms of the quality of the marriage for the husband."

For his research, Iveniuk studied 953 heterosexual couples who ranged in age from 63 to 90 years old with an average length of the relationship being 39 years.

"Wives whose husbands show higher levels of positivity reported less conflict. However, the wives' positivity had no association with their husbands' reports of conflict," Iveniuk added, via the news organization.

Based on interviews from the study, researchers found that husbands typically reported more criticism and demands from their wives than vice versa. This also included a need for higher levels of emotional support from this partner.

"Several previous studies have been about the implications of marital status on health," said Co-author Linda Waite, Lucy Flower Professor of Urban Sociology at the university, according to The Daily Mail.  "This research allows us to examine individual marriages and not "married people." We have the reports on the quality of the marriage from each person, about their own personality and their own health."

What do you think?